Figure Me Out

A Girl In Trouble

"Hey, Alex," someone said. I looked up from my book to see John Mayrr standing in front of my desk. "Can I borrow a pencil?"

"Uh, sure." I rummaged through my bag and pulled out a decent one. It's the third week of school, how could you have already lost yours? I thought. "Here you go," I said, handing it to him before looking back down at my book.

A couple seconds later the girl next to me cleared her throat. I glanced over at her and she tipped her head subtly towards the front of the classroom. I turned and John was still standing there nervously in front of me. Looking at him expectantly, I watched as he struggled to find words. After a few seconds, I raised my eyebrows as an invitation for him to speak.

"So, I was wondering if you would want to maybe go out with me on Friday. There's a new movie   that came out that I really wanted to see.." He asked.

John was a nice enough guy I guess, but we had never really had a conversation before;  he wasn't exactly the type of person you'd want to have a heart to heart with. I really only had this class with him this year, so I dunno what made him think that we we're even a possibility. We had some mutual friends, since I was sorta popular in the smart group.

I heard the girl next to me snort into her hand. She was looking away obviously trying not to laugh. I guess my uninterest was very painfully apparent for everyone except the boy standing in front of me.

"Umm. Sorry, no." I looked back at my book because I thought that would have gotten rid of him. I thought once a boy gets rejected he will quit trying. Apparently not.

"Oh. That's okay, what about Saturday?" he tried again. This boy just didn't know when to quit!

This time I didn't even bother to look up from my book when I replied, "no..."

"Oh, are you busy? How about Sunday?" Okay, obviously I couldn't let him down easy, the poor guy just didn't get the hint.

"Look," I closed my book sharply, hoping it would help get my point across, "I'm sure you're a really nice guy, but my answer is no." He was still standing there confused and I sighed in exasperation; what the hell more can I say without sounding like a total ass?

"Look, dude." I heard a voice next to me interrupt. "This is getting awkward for everyone," she continued, "so I'm just gonna lay it out for you because Alex here is too nice to: she doesn't like you. No matter what day you ask her out she's gonna say no because she doesn't like you." she finished and all I could think was, damn.

John looked at me, surprised, and I just made a face that said sorry, but she's right. He glanced back at the girl who made a shooing motion with her hands; a little harsh, but necessary, I think, in this case. After he walked away we looked at each other and started grinning, laughing under our breath.

"Thanks," I whispered. The teacher had given us a look and told us to go back to our reading until the bell rang, even though there were only like fifteen minutes of english class left and everyone else was talking.

"No problem," she said. "I can sense a girl in trouble." I laughed again and so did she.

"I'm Alex, by the way." I think she already knew that.

"Maggie." She smiled.

"Are you new to the area? I don't think I've seen you here before," I asked.

"No, I've been here all this year and the last half of last year. But this school is pretty big," she said. I felt bad for not knowing her name even though she said next to me. Before I could say anything she continued, "I do think I'm in the same PE class as your sister, though."